Keynsham 'Wessex' cancel

Before the issue of barred numeral cancels, approximately 40 towns in south-west England used their circular date stamps for cancelling adhesive stamps rather than Maltese Cross cancels, the majority known being used during 1842. These are commonly referred to as the “Wessex” cancellations because of the region from which most of them originate.

Here is an example of one, possibly inadvertant,  from Keynsham in November 1841.

Keynsham Sub-Offices - Chandag, East Keynsham, Park Estate

Finally on this journey through Keynsham post marks, here are some marks from the three sub-offices of Keynsham, starting with a Chandag single ring handstamp from 1973 and 1994.  The Chandag post office opened in 1970.

 

The East Keynsham post office opened in 1928 and was closed sometime between 1941 and 1946.

The Park Estate post office opened in 1959 and was closed in 2008.

Keynsham Pre-Paid Handstamp and Meter Marks

Business mail was often pre-paid without using postage stamps - this first example from 1956 has a red single ring "PAID" handstamp, and because the addressee was no longer there it was charged postage due for the return to sender.

Meter machines were also in use, with two examples from 1968 and 1986 below.

Keynsham Parcel Cancels and Luggage Labels

Parcel Post had its own set of cancels...

... and luggage labels used on the Railways.

Keynsham - Post Office number 423

Keynsham was issued with Post Office number 423 which was used in the "TO PAY / LIABLE TO / LETTER / RATE" cachet in 1952 shown below.

The office number was also used in triangular cancels for Printed Matter - the envelope below being cancelled sometime between October 1961 and May 1965.

Keynsham Delivery Office

Keynsham Delivery Office had a single ring handstamp for use on 'Priority Services'. The sheet below shows some examples from 2000 and 2003.

The top handstamp is on the back of a Royal Mail form, shown below.

Keynsham Oval Registered Handstamps

A number of different "REGISTERED / KEYNSHAM, BRISTOL" oval handstamps have been seen in the 1980s and 1990s of differing sizes and formats - the earlier handstamps had the bottom line in a serif font while later ones used a sans-serif font.

Keynsham Self-Inking Datestamps

Keynsham has two different self-inking datestamps (SID), a plain "KEYNSHAM" and a "KEYNSHAM BRISTOL", with different codes (each SID code is a physically different handstamp).

There are three codes known for the "KEYNSHAM" SID, codes C, K and Z.

The "KEYNSHAM BRISTOL" SID exists with codes A, B, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, M and X.

Keynsham Slogan Cancels

The only slogan cancels seen used at Keynsham to date are either Postcode ones or Christmas ones.  Here are examples of the ones known to date.

This last example from 1983 also has a green framed "NOT KEYNSHAM" cachet on the front.

Keynsham Machine Cancels

A Krag machine cancel is known in use at Keynsham from November 1956 to November 1958.

A  Universal machine cancel is known in use earlier than the Krag at Christmas, but the main period of use was after the Krag.

Other Universal dies were in use including a 2nd PAID ...

... and with a different town die (here from 1970).

Keynsham Single Ring Handstamps

Keynsham also had single ring "KEYNSHAM / BRISTOL" handstamps, probably used as counter stamps. Here are some examples of a 24mm single ring handstamp known used from 1949 to 1985.

... and an example of a 23mm single ring handstamp from 1969.

Keynsham - Double Circle Double-Arc cancels

In December 1913 Keynsham was issued with another "Dulwich" cancel, this time "KEYNSHAM / BRISTOL". This handstamp has medium-thick arcs and is currently known used from 1913-1929.

A different "Dulwich" cancel with thicker arcs is known used from 1936-1962.

A final type of double circle double-arc cancel with line arcs is known as a "Birmingham" type after the first place to be issued with this type.  The Keynsham cancel is currently known in use from 1963 to 1975 - both these examples are on misrouted mail.

Keynsham - Skeletons from 1908 and 1913

Skeleton cancels were used when the normal handstamp was being repaired or altered, or had been mislaid.  Keynsham has had two known periods of use of skeleton cancels.

The first is known used between 8th July and 7th August 1908, as shown in the next couple of sheets.

The second, larger, skeleton is known used between 21st September and 20th October 1913.

Keynsham - Double Circle Double-Arc cancels (Dulwich)

Keynsham had a "KEYNSHAM / +" double circle double-arc cancel known in use from 1896-1910.  This type of cancel is known as a "Dulwich" cancel after the first place to be issued with the type.

Here are some examples from1896 and 1905, and a third example with no year in the datestamp.

Keynsham - Single Ring Handstamps

Keynsham used a number of different single ring handstamps.  This sheet has a couple of examples from 1865 and 1869 of a 20mm single ring handstamp.

Next are a couple of examples from 1879 and 1881 of a 23mm single ring handstamp.

... and from 1886 and 1903 here are some examples of a 19mm single ring handstamp.

This last example of a 19mm single ring handstamp is on the back of a Post Office Jubilee cover from 1890.

Keynsham - Double-Arc Handstamps

"Keynsham, spelt K-E-Y-N-S-H-A-M, Keynsham, Bristol"

Horace Cyril Batchelor (22 January 1898 – 8 January 1977) was an English gambling advertiser. He  was best known during the 1950s and 1960s as an advertiser on Radio Luxembourg. He advertised frequently as a way to win money by predicting the results of football matches, sponsoring programmes on the station. His spelling out of Keynsham, the town where he operated, made it famous.

The earlier marks of Keynsham have already been covered here.  This next series of posts are going to cover the later marks of Keynsham.  Keynsham came under Bristol apart from a period between 1851 and 1862 when it came under Bath.

Here are some examples from 1851 of a 25mm double-arc dated handstamp, the top one, dated March 1851, going through Bristol and the bottom one, dated October 1851, going through Bath.

This 22mm double-arc dated handstamp from November 1862 went through Bristol.

Bristol Penny Post - Clifton, Keynsham

Clifton was originally the boxed "No.2" receiving house in the Bristol Penny Post and seven different boxed "No.2" handstamps are known.  Here is a poor example of the fifth one from June 1827, probably just before it was replaced.

The entire does have a nice "TOO LATE" handstamp, of the third type that was in use at Bristol.

Keynsham was the boxed "No.10" receiving house, with four different boxed handstamps known and one unboxed one.  This is an example of the unboxed handstamp from December 1837.